How to Avoid Writing a Boring Family History

After reading numerous articles with tips for writing a family history, I have cringed as these articles make the process overly complex and the end result becomes cures for insomnia.

STOP WRITING BORING FAMILY HISTORIES!

Many genealogists dream of writing “The Book” for family history, perhaps you’re one of them. Don’t destroy your admirable goal of turning your filing cabinets of facts into a bound book for your family to appreciate their heritage by printing the worst offender -- a Register Style genealogy book.

Ask yourself, do you really want to read this register style family history?

Apparently, a well-known genealogy society developed the Register Style Family History in the 1870s. (source) They format succeeds in organizing generations and facts in an economical way.

HOWEVER, we live in an age where you can inexpensively publish a book through Lulu.com or Amazon (among others). These on-demand single run publishers allow you the freedom to tell better stories without breaking the bank.

The tough love writing advice in the above video explains the following tips:

Add Explanations

Describe the Locations

Move Genealogy Proofs

Add Context

If you’re a prickly genealogist who thinks there is only one way to write a family history, then don’t watch this video as I just might offend you. (Especially when I tell you the truth about your proof arguments and what to do with them)

If you want to share your family history without your family running for the hills to avoid you, then this video is for you.

Additional Family History Writing Tips and Examples

If you want even more tips on how to improve your family history writing, then you need to immerse yourself in these articles

Discover how you can improve the family histories you have inherited by critically reading each chapter to extract questions that you must answer. This blog post expands on the questions covered in the video.

After you transform facts into sentences, you must add historical context to your writing to add life to your dry details. This blog post explains the benefits of adding historical context to your family histories.

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Devon Noel Lee is passionate about capturing and preserving family stories so no one alive today has to be researched, or forgotten, tomorrow. She has authored 6 how-to books, a memoir, two published family history biographies, and over 60 family scrapbooks. She's an enthusiastic speaker who energizes, encourages, and educates at the same time.

Meet Devon Noel, Caleb, and Andy Lee. We help beginning and intermediate level genealogists understand DNA, climb their family trees, and write their ancestors' stories along the way. If family history isn't fun, you're doing it wrong.